DHL: Artificial intelligence will remold logistics world

Global logistics provider DHL believes worldwide supply chains are beginning to undergo a fundamental transformation as more "artificial intelligence" is deployed to handle both the domestic and international movement of goods According to research conducted in support of its recent 2016 Logistics Trend Radar, DHL thinks the impact of data-driven and autonomous supply chains provides an opportunity for "previously unimaginable levels of optimization" in manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and last mile delivery that could become a reality in less than half a decade, despite high set-up costs deterring early adoption within the logistics industry. Brown selects Orbcomm's dry van trailer tracking solution Matthias Heutger, senior vice president for strategy, marketing & innovation at DHL, said in a statement that 15 of the 26 "key trends" identified in the company's annual trend radar report "are likely to make an impact in under five years" and thus bear careful watching by the global logistics industry. While the "Internet of Things" or "IoT" will also play a large role in more "intelligent supply chains" as well – a trend DHL noted in its trend report last year – security concerns regarding hacking, among other issues, is slowing down its adoption. IoT offers the potential to connect virtually anything to the Internet and accelerate data-driven logistics, DHL stressed; estimating that by 2020, more than 50 billion objects will be connected to the Internet, presenting an "immense" 1.9 trillion opportunity in logistics, by its reckoning. "Only a few logistics [IoT] applications with substantial business impact have materialized so far," DHL noted in its report. "This is largely due to a shortage of standards in the industry, security concerns, and the fact that recent IoT innovations have mainly been developed for the consumer market.